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Clinton defeats Sanders in Nevada

Hillary Clinton scored a modest but decisive win in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, allaying for now fears about her erosion of support in national polls and injecting some momentum into the campaign as it heads toward arguably the most significant test of the 2016 Democratic primaries: South Carolina.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after 5 p.m., and Clinton’s lead over rival Bernie Sanders held at a little more than 4 percentage points with more than 80 percent of precincts reporting. The victory is a relief for Clinton loyalists, who feared getting clipped by Sanders and facing a week of stories about a stunning upset.

“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other,” Clinton said in her victory speech. “You turned out in every corner of this state with determination and purpose.”

Clinton also took a swipe at Sanders, again presenting herself as a practical progressive who can actually get things done. “So Americans are right to be angry but we’re also hungry for real solutions,” she said. “The truth is we aren’t a single-issue country. We need more than a plan for the big banks. The middle class needs a raise and we need more jobs.”

And she rejected Sanders’ attack that she’s too cozy with Wall Street, saying eroding the power of special interests “starts by appointing a new justice to the Supreme Court who will protect the right of every citizen to vote, not every corporation to buy elections.”

Clinton has good reason to think she’ll maintain her strong hold on black voters.

This was the win that eluded Clinton in Iowa, when she escaped with a minuscule lead in a contest largely considered a tie. And it followed her jaw-dropping defeat in New Hampshire last week, when Sanders clobbered her by more than 20 points. Nevada appeared to tighten after that contest, but Sanders was unable to close the deal, despite making inroads with Latino voters who could be a crucial bloc in future contests.

In a nod to that dynamic, as results were coming in, Clinton tweeted, “No podemos permitir que un republicano gane las elecciones,” which translates to “We cannot allow a Republican to win the election.”

Still, the win is a confidence boost for Clinton as she heads to South Carolina, where she’s banking on dominance among the state’s large African-American population to carry her to a solid victory. And she has good reason to think she’ll maintain her strong hold on black voters.

Entrance polls taken before Democratic voters entered the caucus sites on Saturday suggest Clinton’s win was powered by female and non-white voters – especially African Americans. Sanders and Clinton ran neck-and-neck among whites, who made up roughly three-in-five voters on Saturday. But Clinton won non-white voters by about 14 points, entrance polls show.

That’s despite an apparent edge for Sanders among Hispanic voters, who comprised about half the non-white segment. But Clinton ran up huge margins among African-American voters, who are about a third of the non-white vote, 76 percent to 22 percent. Clinton won 57 percent of the female vote, according to the entrance polls, in addition to 44 percent of men. Sanders won 53 percent of the male vote, but he captured just 41 percent of women.

Clinton’s win kicked off a cascade of jubilant statements from the prominent groups that have endorsed her, from the Human Rights campaign to EMILY’s List to Planned Parenthood Action Fund to the League of Conservation Voters.

Republicans, rooting for a chaotic Democratic primary, jumped on the fact that Clinton’s team had once projected a romp in Nevada.

Though polls had been spotty and unreliable here, most observers saw a tightening contest in the final weeks. The close call in the end will give Sanders’ team hope that he can build on his support among minority voters. The race appears poised to stretch for months.In a letter to supporters, Sanders made clear that he viewed the Nevada results as a win of sorts.

“Nevada was supposed to be a state ‘tailor made’ for the Clinton campaign,” he wrote. “But today, we sent a message that will stun the political and financial establishment of this country: our campaign can win anywhere.”

In statement from his campaign, Sanders was more contrite. “I just spoke to Secretary Clinton and congratulated her on her victory here in Nevada,” he said. Notably, the statement overlooks South Carolina, as Sanders argues, “we have the wind at our back as we head toward Super Tuesday” — when about a dozen states cast ballots on March 1.

In his concession speech, Sanders also minimized South Carolina. “I believe that on Super Tuesday we have got an excellent chance to win many of those states.” He added a bold prediction about the overall nominating contest, saying, “We are going to see the results of one of the great political upsets in the history of the United States.”

Republicans, rooting for a chaotic Democratic primary, jumped on the fact that Clinton’s team had once projected a romp in Nevada. America Rising chairman Matt Rhoades called Clinton’s victory “another embarrassing setback” in her quest for the nomination.

Asked by a pool reporter about her feelings on the caucus, Clinton said, “Great. It’s a great day.”

In one possibly worrisome sign for Democrats heading into November, only 80,000 Nevadans turned out to caucus on Saturday — down from nearly 120,000 in 2008.

Concern from Clinton about the tightening race defined the atmosphere of the day.

“The polls have tightened in part because Sanders has been able to raise more money than us,” Clinton wrote in a fundraising solicitation to supporters on Saturday morning, a reflection of growing concerns that Sanders may have a cash edge in the next round of primary battles.

The concern was on display Friday night too, when Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, took solace in a decision by the Culinary Workers Union to not take sides in the contest. While that choice deprived Clinton’s already well-organized Nevada operation of a potent network of support, it was a better outcome than 2008.

“They were against us the last time. This is progress,” he told a pool reporter.

She maintained an urgent tone throughout Saturda. In her one public event of the day, Clinton strode into Harrah’s employee cafeteria to cheers, alongside top aides Huma Abedin, videographer Julie Zuckerbrod, press secretary Nick Merrill and trip director Connolly Keigher.

“I need your help this morning, in the showroom. 11 a.m.,” she urged attendees. “I need your help. The showroom.”

Asked by a pool reporter about her feelings on the caucus, Clinton said, “Great. It’s a great day.”

Her visit came shortly after Sanders made his own pitch to the crowd of workers.

Clinton and Sanders have been throwing sharper elbows at each other for weeks, each seeking to show that the other isn’t as attuned to the issues that minority voters care about. Sanders on Thursday linked Clinton to her husband’s passage of welfare reform at the end of his first term, which Sanders called “absolutely disastrous for low-income people in general, and the African-American community in particular.” His message about malfeasance by financial institutions has also caught on in a state plagued by foreclosures during the economic collapse of 2008.